


Fleeting Heat

by LeoOtherLands



Series: Transient Probabilities [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, I'm going to rip your hearts out, Itachi is mind fucked, Light Smut, Love, M/M, Manipulation, Modern Era, Omega Verse, Sadness, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, no regrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 22:27:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19877080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeoOtherLands/pseuds/LeoOtherLands
Summary: “Bullshit! If you wanted to be in his life, you wouldn’t have left the moment you found out his condition. It’s been three years, Uchiha.”Itachi lost himself years ago. But there are pieces left in the wreck, and, sometimes, they spark to life.





	Fleeting Heat

**Author's Note:**

> Let me begin by asking you to please forgive me! This is my first attempt at an ABO, and I'm quite sure I've fucked something up somewhere. But, I do want to give a shout out to my own dear Alpha, [EternalSurvivor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternalSurvivor/works) who was kind enough to inform me about ABO dynamics. Without you, my dear, this piece would be such a mess.
> 
> That being said, I like to use my imagination and I've made a few of my own choices in this. As I was still a bit sketchy about the roles of betas (despite being one myself...), I used my own ideas and made them agender and unable to reproduce in any way. Kind of viewing them as more a reinforcement and buffer between alphas and omegas and their high hormones. "shrugs" Is just a note for reading purposes.
> 
> When you try your best but you don't succeed  
> When you get what you want but not what you need  
> When you feel so tired but you can't sleep  
> Stuck in reverse
> 
> When the tears come streaming down your face  
> 'Cause you lose something you can't replace  
> When you love someone but it goes to waste  
> What could it be worse?
> 
> But high up above or down below  
> When you are too in love to let it show  
> Oh but if you never try you'll never know  
> Just what you're worth
> 
> Lights will guide you home  
> And ignite your bones  
> And I will try to fix you
> 
> [Fix You - Coldplay](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK3TROzVRiE)

Heat. Heat radiating up my tailbone and along my spine, to the base of my skull, woke me from blurred dreams. I whined, then growled, rubbing my face on the sheets, scenting them. Smell of me, smell of Alpha. My Alpha.

This was good. This was right.

Natural instinct, and my body, had me shaking the coverings off my fevered skin and pawing and twisting them into a nest. The inarticulate noises I was making, and my restless efforts, caused a stir on the other side of the bed.

“Itachi? Itachi, what are you doing?”

Most words had long ago lost relevance and importance, but some still injected meaning into my mind. _Itachi._ The sound Alpha made when speaking to me, or about me.

I whined in response to his call and continued winding the blankets into a circular nest around me.

“Itachi.” Alpha sat upright and ran a hand over his face before his vision cleared enough for him to register what I was doing. “Shit.”

The articulation meant nothing to me, but the scent coming off Alpha was one of _Agitation_ , making me snarl. Instinct told me when Alpha was agitated it meant there was danger.

Instantly, the smell from Alpha changed, going mellow and reassuring. “It’s alright, Itachi. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Alpha moved toward me as he said it, and I whined, curling down into my nest, while I took him in. My Alpha was a marvel. Large. All lean muscle under gray skin. A strong scent.

I made little, inviting sounds when he reached me, and tilted my head to look up at him, even as I offered the back of my neck for him to bite. That place over my throbbing scent gland where he’d marked me as his when we’d first mated.

Bonded. Bonded to my Alpha.

I had enough sense left to know this.

Alpha grunted and bent to sink his sharp teeth into that sensitive place. Not deep, just enough. Enough to make me whine and pant in pleasure and anticipation, as another wave of heat rolled upward through me.

Huffing breath, I raised my hindquarters, presenting for him. Alpha groaned, lifting off my neck and stroking his fingers down my spine. They found my entrance, wet with slick, and slid in.

“You have no idea how much I’d love to do what you’re asking, Itachi, but I can’t. Not with you like this.”

Meaningless symbols. I only made little whimpering sounds, as I moved aggressively on the fingers inside me. Taking the comfort Alpha offered me, even if it wasn’t what I wanted.

Alpha worked me until the heat dimed down, scenting my neck all the while, and exuding heady, alpha spoor. Still, I was not satisfied when he pulled his fingers back, leaving me bereft and unknotted. I growled low, snapping at Alpha’s hand when he extended it to me.

Alpha tasted of me, but below it, of himself, and it was this I wanted. Continuing to growl, I nipped along his fingers and hand, ending by licking his palm. A display of affection and loyalty.

Alpha sighed, his scent going musky and rich. “I love you too, Itachi.”

The hand I tasted was removed, much to my dissatisfaction. With a whine, I turned in my nest, curling into ta tight ball. My eyes followed Alpha, as he stood and stretched.

“Alright, Itachi, we’ll get through this heat. I’ll take care of you. It might not be what you want, but a cool shower will help. Come on, Itachi.”

I’d stayed motionless, watching, but perked up at the words. _Come._ And _Itachi_. The things spoken when Alpha wanted me to go with him. Though I was called, it was with reluctance I left my nest. I would not have done so if it were not Alpha.

My mate wrapped his arms around me, snuffing at my neck and guiding me to the room that smelled of water and damp. Alpha did things which started water falling and took my hand to pull me under it. The spray was cold, almost unbearably so on my heat addled body, but Alpha was gentle.

He washed my fevered skin and my long hair, and his fingers eased down inside me again, as he pressed me to the wall, teeth in my neck. Still not what my body screamed for, but Alpha cared for me, and his scent spoke of all being well.

When Alpha stopped the water, he dressed me and led me away from the bed and my nest, despite my weak protests.

“Come, Itachi. It’ll be alright,” his only instruction.

_Come._

At least where he brought me was reassuring. The room which smelled of food. I was grunting and growling before he nudged me to sit and told me to wait.

 _Wait._ Another spoken utterance I still knew. Yes. Wait while Alpha seared meat and other things. Wait while he portioned the food out onto flat stones.

I was in no mood to wait more when he set mine before me. Half snarling, I pounced on the food, ignoring its hotness. Instinct demanded I _eat_ , and instinct would not be denied. Alpha made no move to slow my attack on what he’d given me. Only picked at his own food, until I was done, and gave me what remained on his stone.

“I’m not very hungry, really,” he sighed, going to stand behind me.

Whatever he said, I didn’t comprehend. All that made sense were his fingers in my hair while I ate. Tying it back at my nape. Another I would have torn apart for being so near me as I ate, but Alpha was _mine_ , and my instincts told me he was _Provider_.

“That was alright, yes, Itachi?” Alpha said, rubbing the heel of his hand between my shoulder blades. “I’ll get you cleaned up, and we’ll see about the day.”

My face was washed, and Alpha settled me on the couch with a collection of soft blankets before he went back to the room smelling of food. The harsh sting of cleaning fluids replaced that of food, as I created a new nest.

Fed and surrounded by a nest smelling of me and Alpha, I curled up again. Swells of heat were riding my hips and spine by the time Alpha came to insert himself in my nest with me, but I made no attempt to insight him. Just blinked drowsy eyes and stretched my jaw wide in a lazy yawn.

“Yeah, I’m tired too. Though, you have more reason to be, Itachi.” He stroked me, as he talked his senseless sounds. “Fuck. I’m glad I started the rut represents two days ago. I knew this was coming, but I hoped… Hoped it wouldn’t.”

The words meant nothing, but I could feel Alpha’s sadness. Whining slightly, I nudged his hand, and chewed at his fingers, eliciting a grunting laugh.

“You know that tickles, Itachi?”

Alpha tucked me against him in obvious inclination to sleep, and I huffed in contentment. I was dozing when an electric buzz afflicted my ears.

I lifted my head and hissed at the piercing sound. Beside me Alpha spewed out words I didn’t understand, but that combined with his scent to tell me he was angry.

“Bloody fuck! Who the hell could that be?”

I was snarling when Alpha disentangled himself from me and the nest, but he caught my face in his hands and bit soft at my neck. “It’s alright, Itachi. Just some annoying asshole at the door.”

My mate stalked across the room and put his face flush with the part of the wall which let us in and out, when alpha wanted to leave. He grunted and muttered, “What the hell does he want?”

Then Alpha was opening the passage and leaning in the opening, large frame blocking the way and overshadowing another who stood outside.

“Didn’t know you were back in _Konoha_ , Sasuke. There’s no reason for you to be here.”

“No reason?” The voice was soft and silky-dark, controlled. “He’s my brother, Kisame, I have a right to see him.”

“A right.” Alpha stopped leaning in a relaxed manner, and stood straight, arms folded over his chest. “He doesn’t even know who you are.”

“But I know who he is. Let me in, Kisame. Or I’ll let myself in.”

“Think you could?”

A low chuckle and the scent of bloodlust made my heckles rise, chasing a low growl out my throat.

“I know I could, Kisame. Let me in.”

Alpha hissed through his teeth. “Stop that fucking challenge scent, and I will. You’ll upset him.”

The smell of bloodlust vanished, and Alpha turned, admitting a small figure with wild, black hair and coal-dark eyes. I snarled, but Alpha was at my side, gripping my shoulders and pressing his nose to my neck.

“It’s alright, Itachi. He won’t hurt us.”

The new one’s nostrils flared, his eyes darkening, if that were possible. “He’s in heat.”

“Well no fucking shit!” Alpha responded. “Started this morning.”

“I thought you had him on suppressors.”

“I did, but I can’t leave him on those meds all the time. He had to come off them for a while.”

The new one paced forward, movements predatory, though he tried to make them not so. “And do you fuck him?”

“Screw you!” Alpha spat. “I take care of my omega, and I don’t need to tell you how I do it! Besides. His heats don’t last very long… anymore.”

“Fleeting,” the new one said, stepping forward slowly. “Like life.”

He knelt down in front of me, tilting his head up and baring his neck in clear sign of submission. But it wasn’t enough to dispel my heat induced aggravation at having an unknown so near my nest. A low growl swelled in my throat and the pain started in my left eye. Some deep, base part of me wanted blood at the intrusion.

“No, Itachi,” Alpha murmured in my ear, teeth grazing my neck.

 _No._ Another command I knew well. No meant don’t kill, don’t do. I rumbled compliant at it but didn’t try to resist it.

“Let him smell your hand, Sasuke,” Alpha urged the one on his knees. “Let him get your scent properly.”

The one called Sasuke obeyed, holding out his hand to me, while never lowering his head, leaving his throat open. Warning growling low in my throat, I leaned out over the edge of my nest to scent the hand extended to me. The smell was immediately reassuring, even enticing.

Beta. The one called Sasuke smelled of beta, and that was good scent, but, more than that, he smelled _mine_. My beta? My claimed beta?

Sasuke caught his breath and I smelled a hint of fear scent coming off him, and with good reason. I’d flashed out of my nest and my mouth was suddenly at his throat. Yet, he didn’t move, as I rumbled a light complaint at his neck and pressed my nose to his skin, inhaling scent directly from his glands.

Beta, yes. But not _my_ beta, not my claimed beta. Something else. _Packmate_ , instinct insisted, and that seemed right, but more. Something more… _Littermate_ , a voice inside me whispered and that felt accurate. The felt correct.

Littermate. One of my pack. My beta to protect.

The tenseness went out of me. Whining a little at his neck, I brushed my teeth lightly over the delicate skin covering his glands. Sasuke gasped at the show of acceptance, moving the arms he’d held out at his sides, away from me, up around my shoulders.

“I-tachi.”

I rumbled in half distress at the contact with my heat aggravated body, and shook off the arms holding me, nipping at one of his hands in affection and mild annoyance. Once I had the appendage in my teeth, I lay so I was half curled in Sasuke’s lap, tasting him. My littermate let me and did not attempt to unduly touch me again.

On the couch, by my nest, Alpha sighed. “Looks like he still likes you.”

“You said he wouldn’t remember me.”

“He doesn’t. Not really. Not anymore than he remembers me. His mind’s gone, but his body’s still here. Somewhere there must be a physical recognition of your scent.”

The fingers in my mouth flexed slightly, inviting me to continue my tender gnawing. “He’s still my brother. I don’t care for him any less.”

“Bullshit!” Alpha’s articulation was accented with just the lightest hint of _Anger_ scent. There and gone. “If you wanted to be in his life, you wouldn’t have left the moment you found out his condition. It’s been three years, Uchiha.”

Sasuke raised those dark eyes, which had been trained on me, to Alpha. “I had my reasons, Kisame. I’m back now.”

“Permanently?”

A hesitation from my littermate. “More frequently.”

Alpha grunted and looked away. “Sure.”

“I have things to take care of. My pack to see to, my _clan_ to rebuild.”

“Outside of _Konoha_ , beta.”

“ _Konoha_ betrayed us. And pack and clan are more than blood, alpha.”

My mate grunted and looked away; his hands dangled between his thighs.

As if he were through with my Alpha, Sasuke turned his whole focus on me, placing the hand not in my mouth over my hair. “Itachi.” I tilted my head to look up at him with one eye. “I have something for you, Itachi.”

He removed the hand from my hair to delve in the cloth covering he wore. When the hand emerged, it held a braided leather loop with a flat, green and white, marbled stone attached to it. Gently, my littermate eased the loop onto one of my wrists.

I raised my head from his hand and brought my wrist up to smell the strange item. The leather was fresh and scented heavily of pup. And that was a good scent to my heat afflicted mind. _Pup._ But not _just_ pup. There was more in that pup scent, just as there had been more in my littermate’s scent than just beta.

My nostrils flared, as I brought that scent into my nose, and I whimpered low in pain because I did have some sense left. Some small portion of what had once been the man called Itachi. And sometimes there _were_ memories, like scattered fragments of glass, bright and sharp and clear, and easily broken into glittering dust.

The pup scent was one of them. A memory. A faded piece of agony. A-

† † †

 _A scream tore its way out my throat. In all my life, I had never imagined a pain like this. I’d been stabbed and shot and mind fucked with_ genjutsu _, but nothing compared to this. It felt like everything below my breastbone was being ripped open slowly. Because it_ was _. My birthing channel was opening excruciatingly from the inside out, preparing to expel my pup into the world._

_“You’re doing well,” Orochimaru’s hissing voice said. “Just breathe, Itachi.”_

_I groaned instead, hand flailing off the edge of the bed. “S-sasuke.”_

_My brother’s hand wrapped around mine. “I’m here, Itachi,” he said, pushing my sweaty hair off my face, while I wept at the thought perhaps I wasn’t doing well and maybe the snake-like Missing-_ nin _was only saying so to reassure me. It was no secret the rare, male omegas had a notoriously hard time birthing their pups._

 _I wondered, as another splitting slice of pain hit me, if it might not be better if I died here. But no. I had to finish this. Had to give life to my pup. Had to get back to_ Konoha _. Had to get back to-_

_“Kisame!”_

_“Not here,” my bother assured. “You will just have to make do with a couple of betas.”_

_“He will do fine if he just breathes,” Orochimaru hissed._

_I did because there was nothing else I could do. Nothing but grip on my brother’s hand. Nothing but allow my body, and the pale-skinned surgeon, to care for the birthing, until my pup came shrieking into the world, chased by my own wails._

_Then my brother left me, moving down where I couldn’t see because I wouldn’t stop weeping, “Sasuke. My pup, Sasuke.”_

_“The pup?” I heard him ask._

_“Healthy,” came the low hiss in response. “Male.”_

Male. _My head rolled on the metal table._ A son. I have a son…

_“And my brother?”_

_“Fine if I’m allowed to perform the services for which I was hired. Now, take the pup and go.”_

_Sasuke came back into my sight, carrying a moist, messy bundle, his brows knit, his face changed to an odd frown at the strange, squirming thing he held. As if he didn’t know what to do with it. As if it were a wholly unaccounted thing._

_The pup had ceased crying but made little mewing sounds around the finger Sasuke let him suck. My brother looked up from the small, new life he held. “Itachi.”_

_I rolled my head in negation, trying to see through my tears. “Give it to Miru, Zabuza, and Haku.”_

_My brother moved to do as I asked, and I whimpered. “S-sasuke. Let me- Let me scent him.”_

_He said nothing, but brought my pup back, leaning close so I could lift my head and press my nose to my young one’s neck. Taking in that fresh scent I knew I would never smell again, I felt a knife shoved through my heart, and I whimpered again, letting my head sink back._

_Sasuke lifted the pup away. “Will you name him?”_

Will you name him? _Internally, a bitter laugh took me._ I named him the moment I knew I carried him. _“Shizuma.” I closed my eyes against the tears and swallowed._

_“Itachi?”_

_“Go,” I whispered._

_My brother moved to do as I asked, but I called out to him once more. “Sasuke.”_

_He turned._

_“Kisame.” My voice shook. “Can never know.”_

_The dark eyes looking back at me were uncompromising. “He will not hear it from me. Not as long as I live.”_

_Then he was gone with my pup and I was weeping unabashedly, with no one else in the room but the snake-like surgeon, and nothing I could do but allow the man to oversee the natural mending of my body. My ordeal was done. My transgression paid in blood. Or, nearly. There was one more thing I had to do. A-_

† † †

-nother bitter thrust and the memory shattered apart. Nothing more than sparkling sand across my mind, leaving only a singular knowing.

Pup.

Pup was with littermate.

My pup.

I whined and bumped my forehead into the beta’s chest, twisting my head back and forth with my teeth clenched in pain. Wanted my pup.

My littermate seemed to sense my distress. He returned my whine and stroked his nails over my neck. The scrap of blunt nails over my inflamed glands reawakened another need and a fresh wave of heat crashed up my spine, making me shiver.

Shuddering out from under my littermate’s touch, I turned back to Alpha. He willingly let me crawl unto his lap, trailing a hand down my back. “I’ve got you, Itachi,” he said.

I grumbled, sniffing at his side and leg. Scenting for a hint of something it annoyed me not to find. No _Desire_ scent. Huffing in dissatisfaction, I buried my face where his hip met his stomach.

Alpha sighed and toyed with the loop of leather on my wrist. He stiffened when his fingers met the stone.

“Connemara marble,” he grunted. “Why the hell are you giving him things from the Mist?”

“Not fond of your own nation, Kisame?” my littermate asked, shifting so one leg was cocked up and an arm was braced on the upraised thigh. He leaned his face forward to rest in his hand, so only one dark eye was visible.

Alpha growled without aggression. “I’m of the Leaf now.”

“For my brother. I wonder at your capacity for loyalty, Kisame.”

My mate rumbled. “Yeah. For your brother. I _stay_ for your brother. You should try it.”

Sasuke laughed, standing up. “My sense of loyalty is different than yours, Kisame. I made promises deeper than merely being born into a nation.”

“Right.”

The exchange of meaningless sounds was of no interest to me. What consumed me were the swelling billows of heat riding my spine. One after another, they came, hotter each time. Pulling my face from Alpha’s side, I put my mouth to his neck, biting little desperate marks there. Whining and shivering.

Alpha sighed, his hands coming around my hips. “I think it’s time you leave, Sasuke.”

My littermate assented with a nod. A swift, curt jerk of his chin. “I’ll be back to see him.”

“It doesn’t seem like I can stop you.”

“I wouldn’t recommend trying it.”

When the passage closed behind my littermate, Alpha huffed out a breath heavily scented with _Aggravation_. Then his scent changed to all loving _Affection_ , and he returned the bites I was scattering over his neck. I articulated a low, needy sound when he pushed my head down and his teeth claimed the back of my neck.

“I know, Itachi, I know,” Alpha said, as his hands eased the cloth covering, he’d dressed me in off the flushed skin of my legs. Yet, he offered me only his fingers, leaving me wanting and aching and frustrated under the increasing heat plying up from my lower regions.

Snarling, I pulled off Alpha’s fingers to turn and snap at them. Sharp teeth aimed to draw blood in annoyance. Not much, but enough. Enough to cause him to jerk his hand back, enough for me to taste the warm, metallic tang of him on my tongue.

And I was whining with it all. The horror of Alpha’s blood in my mouth and the knowing I _should not_ bite Alpha. The pain in my body and the anger and the despite nonunderstanding of why Alpha wouldn’t just to what we both _needed_. Wetness was dripping from my eyes and I shook my head to try and rid myself of it, then collapsed into Alpha’s lap, letting it spill out to dampen his thigh.

“Oh, Itachi.” Alpha sighed, running his unbitten hand up my back, under the cloth covering there. “We’re going to get through this together, I promise.”

Whatever else he might have said or done was cut off by my body convulsing and emitting a hiss, as another electronic buzz pierced my sensitive ears.

“Fuck!” Alpha barked. His hand was taken away from my back and fumbled at the wooden stand beside the couch. “Who the bloody hell is calling?!” Alpha’s fingers managed to retrieve a small, dark rectangle from the clutter, and his angered sounds stopped when he glanced at its lit front.

“Shit,” he said before tapping the thing with his thumb and pressing it to his ear. “Pain.”

My mate listened to the static hiss of a voice I couldn’t discern. “Can another team handle it?” He glanced down at me, where I lay looking up at him with one eye. “This isn’t the best time.” A pause. “You know why.”

Under me, Alpha stiffened and relaxed. “Hiruzen asked for us in particular?” More static, making me whine. Alpha’s bloodied hand stroked me from burning hole to nape. “Fine. But don’t hold me responsible for the consequences.” Another tap and the rectangle was tossed across the room.

Alpha expelled a breath, bending down over me and lifting us both to our feet in a move. “Come on, Itachi,” he said. “We have work to do.”

If I understood _come_ and _Itachi_ , I also understood _work_. Just as I understood what it meant when Alpha brought out the long, black and red roils of cloth he dressed us in and when he heaved the long, wide metal claw he called Samehada unto his back. The knowing stirred something wild and hungry in my primal nature.

We were going hunting.

The desire for blood swelled in me, overruling some urges and intensifying others. As Alpha adjusted the claw slung over his back, I cocked my head from side to side, like a bird, making little growling noises.

“I know, Itachi,” Alpha said. He took my hand and guided me out of our home.

I hissed and snarled in the box, which always made me feel I was falling or rising, though I was doing neither, but Alpha made soothing noises and soon we were out of the glass and steel construction Alpha made our home in. The sticky heat of a summer day clung on my already heated skin, raising beads of rolling sweat, which pulled the heavy cloth I was dressed in close to my flesh. Aggravating it. Making me writhe and scratch. Just as the thick air aggravated me, raising my heckles. There were smells in the air I did not understand. Stinging sulfuric scents, mixed with the human ones of alphas, betas, and omegas. All of them red fire along my nerves. Too many and too close, pricking at my over-stimulated senses.

My nostrils twitched. Little huffs of excited breath escaping out through my clenched teeth. My fingers flexed and curled claw-like at my sides.

Alpha did not give me the permission to kill, though. No more than he offered the relief I craved. He only pressed himself to my side, mouth on my neck, teeth scraping over my glands and hand in mine.

“I know, Itachi. I know.” A grit of his teeth. A half growl. “Pain’s going to get someone killed Hiruzen doesn’t want dead. What are the two of them thinking.”

Whatever the senseless garble meant, I was given no time to concern myself with it. A sleek, predatorily thing of metal and darkened glass came to a crunching, crawling stop beside us and Alpha opened a passage in its side for me.

“In, Itachi,” he rumbled.

 _In._ An implicit command I would have followed even had my mate not spoken it. A deeply young and pup like portion of me enjoyed riding in the metal thing with Alpha. Enclosed with him in a wide, plush area while the outside slid by on the opposite side of the glass.

Yet, I had no energy to watch out the glass in the moment. Once inside the cool space, I only draped myself over Alpha’s lap and lay there, moodily, while his fingers crept beneath the red and black cloth in an attempt to sooth me, which only added to my irritation. But I made no move to vent my frustrations. Not towards Alpha! I had no desire to taste his blood again.

Our time in the metal thing was short. All too soon, it came to a stop before a spire, which seemed to be made of spun glass, and I was again with Alpha, hissing in a box, feeling I was rising and rising without end.

I nearly hamstrung the omega sitting in the room we entered, but Alpha, and the scent of fellow omega, restrained me. Omega was good scent. Reassuring scent.

If only to me. The omega was squeaking in fright. And Alpha, his arms around my chest, snarled at her, “Which room are they in?”

“H-hiruzen’s office!” she choked, and Alpha began dragging me away. Rumbling in my ear, while I whined little, apologetic sounds.

My mind was whirling. Heat rolled up my spine and flashed over my skin. Pains knotted and spiked up my back, and all I knew was Alpha pressed to me and the desire of him and blood. Why could I just not have my mate? What had I done to displease him?

The feelings blew away from me in an instant when Alpha reached around me to open a passage and usher me into a room. A raged growl erupted out of me, and I felt my eyes go red, as the air of the room assaulted my nose. The scent of an omega and two betas clogged my orofacial passages, disliked but acceptable. But blending with these scents, overriding and overruling them, was the heady, dangerous smell of three alphas.

Instinct howled this was _unacceptable_ , this meant _blood_.

Whether it was my growl or my red-eyed stare or the scent coming off my heat enrapt body, every eye in the room zeroed in on me. A moment of locked inaction ensued, then the red-haired alpha spoke in slow unease.

“He is in heat.”

I snarled, body tensing to spring, and Alpha’s arms wrapped my chest. “No, Itachi!” he growled, low in my ear.

 _No._ Yes, I understood _no_ , but more, I understood the sting of his teeth on my neck. Not playful, not loving. Sharp. Restraining. _Demanding_ I submit to my Alpha’s mandate.

Whimpering, I fell limp in his arms, confusion running rampant through my heat rankled mind.

The room was a muted thing of faded colors and deep, soft couches. The male beta, an old, white-haired thing, reclined in a lone seat, breathing out scented smoke. Near him, the lone male omega and the elder male alpha shared a couch. Both seeming unaffected by the pheromones coming off my Alpha and I, killing intent, blood lust, simple lust, overriding command to submit, as well as my clear aggressive actions. The two young, male alphas and the female beta sat together on another couch. Contrary to the calm providing the other three in the room, these shifted and grit their teeth in aggravation.

“What is this?” The red-haired alpha spoke again. “You promised us an elite assassin and his handler from your _Akatsuki_ , and you deliver to us an omega in heat. What’s more, one who is obviously not acting in his right mind.”

Alpha snarled, the rumble of his displeasure loud against my neck and the sensitive skin over my swelling glands. He was not given time to speak, however.

“Oh, Itachi is quite the proficient killer, I assure you.” The omega said the words with a sly smile pulling at his lips, even as his head dipped forward, his amber, snake eyes narrowing with delighted intent. “I should know, I made him, after all.”

“Made him?” The young alpha with the purple-painted lines on his face cast the omega a look of distaste, as he shifted his weight.

But it was the elder alpha, with half his face wrapped in cloth, who answered. “In a manner of speaking. Kabuto designed and implemented a series of procedures, tested on Itachi, which amplified his innate physical and _chakra_ related capabilities.”

The painted alpha shuffled restlessly again. “That so? Doesn’t seem the best idea to give those kinds of abilities to someone…”

The old alpha made a rumbling sound in his throat, cutting off the other alpha’s words. “The procedures Kabuto created had unfortunate, and unforeseen, side effects on Itachi’s mental capacities.”

“That is unfortunate.” This from the red-haired alpha. His green eyes watched me close, causing me to whine and squirm in my mate’s hold. “How deeply do these side effects run?”

The one called Kabuto eyed me from under a cloth covering he wore over his hair, a cloth the color of faded blood. “While my efforts succeeded as far as his body was concerned, they had the opposite effect on his mind. Itachi’s mind degraded, reverting him back into his most primal and instinctual mature.” A glint in one of his unpleasant, snake eyes. “You could say he became the perfect killer. All the skills of a man and all the pure, base instincts of a predator. An animal.”

All through the useless exchange of words, I stayed locked in Alpha’s arms. Pliant. Loose. Exuding submissive scent. Yet, watching the omega’s face and meeting his strange, snake eyes, as he smiled at me in clear greed, I felt myself tense. My muscles growing taunt. _Hate_ scent began to creep out of me, and my gaze focused in on the man, staring intent, ripe hostility, my eyes dilating and contracting. I snapped my teeth at him, harnessing a growl.

Though Alpha’s arms tightened on me, the omega’s smile only broadened, hooded gaze going lecherous in his amused scrutiny of me there. Restrained. Helpless.

The sensation was one I recognized. One what was left of the man called Itachi remembered. One which raised another dissipated fragment from the sediments of my mind.

A sensation of powerlessness and impotency. I was-

† † †

_Defenseless._

_Vulnerable._

_My heart fluttered wildly in my chest, though I struggled to keep my breathing even. The restraints were cold on my wrists and ankles. Almost as cold as the blood pumping in my veins but lacking the chill of the metal table at my back._

_I was spread eagle. Locked into place. My hair falling in my face because the table was tilted at a forty-five-degree angle. Stripped naked, and on display for the snake sage’s pleasure._

_My skin crawled under his touch. Kabuto seemed to take a perverse pleasure indeed from the situation. He paid particular attention to the faint, white slit left behind on my abdomen by the opening of my birthing channel, running his fingers over it._

_“I never would have taken you for the sentimental type, Itachi.”_

_“Nor would I have taken you for the depraved kind, Kabuto.” I shivered as I said it, despite myself. The crawl of his fingers over my parts was like the faint, clawed, clinging climb of a spider’s legs._

_Kabuto only chuckled at me, removing his fingers. “Your attempt at reciprocation is admirable. But, in this case.” His face was near mine, his lips at my ear. “You’re nothing but a poor liar, Itachi. You’re lying about not being afraid of what happens next.”_

_He turned and walked to a tray of instruments. Several of his assistant, beige shades in full-body medical uniforms, circulated around the room. Several moved in to check my vitals and insert needles, connected to IV drips, into my veins. The fluids made me drowsy. Dizzy._

_And Kabuto chuckled again. “And you should be worried, Itachi.” He held something sharp and glittering I couldn’t make out. My senses dulled. “The interesting part of these procedures is my ability to perform them while you’re awake. A little necessary component, which allows me to see how your_ chakra _flow responds to what I do to you.”_

_A smile stretched his lips, and I hung there, watching him passed the dark tangle of hair in my face._

_“The IVs will keep you consciences, but half-awake, so your heart doesn’t give out. Some of the sensations will be numbed, but not many. We’ll see how you lie when I’m finished.”_

_He came back toward me, and I felt my_ sharingan _spin active. Red lines of blood tracing down my cheeks._

_“There is one thing you should know, Kabuto. I will not forget.”_

_The man scented my neck. “Oh, feel free to record this with your_ sharingan _as long as you like. I’m only curious.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “How you managed to convince your alpha that scar on your stomach is anything other than what it is. Pity… poor… Kisame.”_

_I snarled at him, but he didn’t care._

_Didn’t care for anything but his own twisted gratification._

_And he was right, of course._

_I was a liar._

_I had lied to my mate about our pup, shamelessly. And I had lied to myself, telling myself I was strong enough to stand up to Kabuto and his knives. That I could survive and return to Kisame an abased, but repentant, man._

_I was a fool._

_Kabuto’s scalpels carved away pieces of me as neatly as they carved flesh, and all I could do was scream and record it all with my blazing_ Mangekyō _._

_They took out my left eye first. Altering it and reaching into my empty socket to play with my mind before replacing the eye. My screams died then, if only the ones I made with my throat and tongue. Because Kabuto was far from through._

_They moved lower next. Cutting at things which made me what I was, ensuring my transgression would never be repeated, even if I wanted to. And changing other things, subtler things I didn’t understand, down deep in my_ Tenketsu _. Pulling pain from me as though my nerves were harp strings Kabuto stroked to create a symphony only he could hear._

_I was nothing when they were through. Not even a memory lost inside a broken thing. Only the recorded imprint of pain locked in eyes I didn’t know how to use any longer. I was-_

† † †

-calm.

I felt my eyes slide back to black, even as they continued to dealate and contract, fiery pain strumming through them from the residual memory. Yet, for all of it, my scent shifted, going mellow and disinterested. Dangerous. Though, only Alpha knew it. Rumbling low in my throat, I turned into my mate and nipped at his neck. Asking permission, I expected he would not give.

His hands moved to the space between my shoulder blades, pressing me to his chest. “That’s right, Itachi,” he soothed, low. “Everything’s alright.”

The senseless words rolled over me, ununderstood. I only knew they were not the permission I craved but knew I would not receive. Cocking my head, I looked up at my mate, eyeing him contemplatively, even as he returned my gaze steadily. My Alpha was inexplicable to me. Able to act against all instinct and bend me to the same, even in a space full of other alphas, while my body shrieked at me.

Dilate, contract.

My eyes betrayed me, belying my calm, if only to Alpha, and he moved one of his hands to grip my hair where he had tied it. Hand firm, scent heavy in my nose, he tugged the thick gathering of my hair.

“Later, Itachi.”

_Later._

Not permission, but a comprehended promise. Later there would be blood.

Grumbling low, I pressed my face into his chest. Alpha sighed, hand releasing my hair to stroke down my back. “I know, Itachi.”

“Humm. If he is settled, then come sit, Kisame. We have things to discuss.”

This from the old, white-haired beta sitting alone. I turned my face to see him with one eye, and Alpha acknowledged him.

“Hiruzen.” Then Alpha was moving us, cutting a wide berth around the two young alphas and the female beta, to bring us to an unoccupied couch near the old beta that Alpha called Hiruzen. My mate sat within reaching distance of the other man and pulled me down unto his lap. Squirming and rumbling half annoyance, I stretched out there, legs on the softness of the couch and chest and face on Alpha’s thighs.

Hiruzen placed a long, thin length of wood to his lips, breathed in, making a flicker of fire on its rounded end glow, and exhaling a cloud of more musky smoke. His eyes never left me all the while. With a soft sound, he reached a hand out to me.

“Hello, Itachi,” he said.

Making low, warning sounds, I leaned forward to smell the delicate fingers preferred to me. Beta. Known beta. _Not_ my beta, but not unfamiliar. Faintly, the scent of him called to mind blurred impressions of being in the room with Alpha and this beta at other times.

Yes.

The beta was acceptable.

In token of this, I made a nonthreatening noise and nipped light at his fingertips before curling my face into Alpha’s side, feigning disinterest in the room. In reality, though my body was relaxed, breathing even, and scent tame, I was tuned to every nuance of the room. Every rustle and subtly shifting scent expressive to me.

The red-haired alpha rumbled low in his throat before speaking. “Am I to assume, then, this alpha, Kisame, is your assassin’s handler, Hiruzen?”

“That is correct, Lord Gaara.”

Another murmured sound emanated from Gaara. “I would have anticipated your choosing another beta for the job, all things considered.”

“Considering what?” Alpha grunted.

“Considering he’s basically a bitch in heat, at this point.”

The young, purple-painted alpha’s statement was offhand. Thoughtless. My Alpha’s response was anything but. He stiffened under me.

“Say that about my omega again, and I’ll snap your neck, runt.” Alpha’s hands had been lightly stroking over my back. With the vent of his rage, they dug, claw-like, along my spine, raising a low snarl all through me.

“Enough.” The single word came from the red-haired Gaara. “My brother is known to be a fool, but I would appreciate it if you did not threaten him.” The young alpha’s scent held the barest hint of _Threat_ , of _Challenge_ , as he said it. Then the disconcerting smells dissipated, as he sighed. “He is your omega?”

“Yes. Mine.” Alpha’s hands had resumed their motions on my back, but I shook them off, half raising myself to look at him, vibrating with a low growl, as the last vestiges of Gaara’s challenge scent vacated my nose.

Alpha made an apologetic noise, shaking his head. “Sorry, Itachi.” He offered me a hand and I accepted it. Drawing it down to his lap, where I lay, seemingly lazily gnawing it with half-lidded eyes.

Hiruzen watched me a moment before exhaling a breath of smoke and directing his words to Gaara. “Kisame had been Itachi’s handler and alpha since before the circumstances which claimed Itachi’s mind. They were our best and most effective team for years, despite being bonded.”

“Humm.” Gaara made the deep-throated sound, closing his eyes, then opening the green orbs to take me in. “Is that so? An interesting thing to allow alpha and omega _shinobi_ of this caliber to mix, much less mate. Are you not concerned with the natural course of human nature, Lord _Hokage_?”

Though the question was not given to him, it was the elder alpha, with the half-covered face, who answered, shifting his weight forward, his hands clasping the head of a gnarled stick he held. “The urge to reproduce is ever a concern among the ranks of our elite. However, we have learned to curtail such foolhardy notions in our omegas. The conceiving of pups is strictly forbidden. Especially within the _Akatsuki_.”

“Peace, Lord Danzō,” Hiruzen said. With a soft sound he placed the stem of the wooden thing he held on his lips and pondered a moment before speaking again. “It is a sad thing we have accepted; the ranks of assassins are no place for children. All too often, those with pups became compromised in their work, costing valuable lives. Given this, we have been forced to lay dire consequences on, not only the omega, but the alpha of any pair who would conceive and keep a pup among our elite. The policy has been… effective in mitigating our loses.”

“I see,” Gaara repeated. His green eyes ran over me with no trace of hostility, only intent curiosity. “And, is it also your policy to perform experimental _chakra_ research on your elite _shinobi_? Especially one you say was, and is, a part of your best team?”

A rustle from Hiruzen, as lines of smoke drifted from his nostrils on a sigh, a stiffening in my Alpha’s limbs, putting me on alert. Yet, it was Danzō who answered the younger alpha.

“It is not our practice to compromise the safety of our _shinobi_. Particularly those of Itachi’s caliber. Nor would we ever allow tests of that nature on an unwilling subject. Itachi volunteered for the procedures. He felt it his duty to the _Akatsuki_ and _Konoha_.”

My name, issuing twice from the elder alpha’s lips, coming so close together, as he turned his one visible eye on me, drew my attention to him. And a thing snapped in me. Clicked. Cracked.

If what had taken me at the sight of Kabuto was undiluted _Hate_ , the look of that single eye was something more. It tore at me with the force of an earthquake. Shattering splitters through the tectonic plates of my mentality, already destabilized through the tender practices of the omega.

I was utterly revolted by the sickly crawl of that eye over me. By the slow pondering behind its mirrored surface. Repulsed by-

† † †

_The shear base intellect facing me froze me. Entirely unmoved by my sudden stiffening, he sat studying me as though I were some interesting specimen of unknown origin he had stumbled across and collected. His to do with as he pleased._

_And, it was with a lurch, I knew the last to be true. He had me, thoroughly and completely. I belonged to Lord Danzō Shimura. He had owned me the moment he called me into his office and said that most simple of sentences, “Tell me how long you’ve known you carry a pup, Itachi,” and waited on my response._

_Because any response was wrong. Pale-faced, I returned the older man’s silent stare. Oh yes. He had me. He knew the moment I had first felt the pup stirring in me, the moment I had even suspected the growth in my womb, I should have gone to Pain. Should have let the leader of the_ Akatsuki _take me to a medical_ nin _and aborted._

_I had not._

_I had allowed my pup to grow, until I felt the flutter of life under my hands._

_Clenching those hands on my thighs, under the cover of Danzō’s desk, I let my eyes bleed red. Blood, like tears, rolling down my face._

_“Long enough.”_

_“Humm,” Danzō made the sound and lowered his gaze. “That’s so. Itachi, Itachi.”_

_Taking his thick, gnarled cane in both his equally gnarled, vein-marked hands, he leveled himself up and began to slowly circle his ship of a desk. I tracked him in his movements, his alpha scent twitching in my nose. I was an omega carrying a pup, and I was alone. My alpha far away and my pregnant instincts screamed of the danger. I was at this duplicitous man’s mercy and he would use me for his own devices. Even if it were not in the way my shrieking instincts warned, of that I was sure. And it would be rape all the same._

_No. I had little doubt of it. I was desired for something in some way. If Danzō Shimura had wanted to merely remand me to the justice of_ Konoha _, he would have done so, and I should not be sitting at his discretion._

_“It is my understanding you have not informed your mate as to your state. However, you realize this fact will not spare him the consequences of your actions, Itachi.”_

_The man, the_ alpha _, shook his head. Then he positioned himself behind me and reached around me to place a hand on my stomach. I stiffened with that hand on my person, over the place my pup curled in the depths of me. Shockingly terrified._

_“What do you want from me?”_

_The powerful alpha bowed his head over my shoulder, tightening that hand over my womb. “You have made an unwise decision, Itachi, a most unwise decision. But you can make another to remedy it._

_“By the laws of_ Konoha _, you and your mate have committed treason and are subject to trail and sentencing there for.”_

_“There is only one sentence for treason, Lord Danzō.” I dared to look up at him, to grasp his wrist and wrench that offending hand from off me, away from my pup. “Unless you intend to carry it out here, yourself, and take my life, I suggest you tell me your ultimatum. I ask you again, what do you want from me? You have not told Hiruzen what you know, or we should not be here.”_

_“No,” Danzō agreed, taking his hand from my grasp. “And, if you do as I ask, he need never know.”_

_I watched the alpha shuffle his way back behind his desk. His show of my vulnerability and subservience to him complete, he settled into his chair again._

_“Speak then,” I commanded when he was seated._

_Danzō pondered me a moment more before revealing himself at last. “I wish you to volunteer yourself for Kabuto’s_ chakra _enhancement project. Hiruzen will not hear of it being complete without a volunteer subject, and none will offer themselves.”_

_“None but me,” I amended. “But your silence is not enough, my lord.” A part of me was revolted at this., the bare fact I was bargaining with him. But it wasn’t enough for him to hold his peace and keep Kisame and I alive. “What of my pup?”_

_“Umm…” the man hummed the sound, steepling his fingers before his face. “I anticipated you would make this request. You may birth your pup, but your mate must not know of it and you may not keep it. Nor can it remain within the Land of Fire. As such, I will arrange for you to be given a supposed, solitary mission outside the borders for the duration of your pregnancy. You will birth your pup, dispose of it, and return to_ Konoha _to offer yourself to Kabuto.”_

Dispose of it. _I grit my teeth at the words, a hot flower of hate growing up to bloom in me._ Yes, go out of _Konoha_ alone and dispense with the new life growing in my belly, while my mate remains here under your careful eye. And, if I disobey, will you kill him?

_I felt the searing, waxen blossom in my chest wilt and fade, leaving a hollowness behind. Yes, I was sure Kisame would die if I misstepped in the dance Danzō had pulled me into. Just as I was sure, when my pup was born and I had returned to my village and my mate, and Kabuto had had his way with me, it wouldn’t be over._

_Hadn’t my instincts reacted in their most basic capacity and warned me the man would use and abuse me? Though wrong in the how of it, they were, none the less, correct in the technicality of it. Lord Danzō Shimura would use me again and again, until I had been thoroughly taken in every way a man could be taken._

_And yet, I felt myself relax under the stare of that single eye he graced me with. Felt my teeth unclench, felt my eyes drift back to black, as I thoughtlessly brought a hand to my still-flat belly._

_“I understand,” was all I said, but another thought was growing in me, while my eyes sought out the window behind Danzō._

Sasuke.

_Since the events, which had led to our Uchiha clan’s decimation, my brother had distanced himself from the village. Retreating ever more into his business and trade excursions outside the Land of Fire, he held connections to several nations, including the Mist, where my mate had been born._

Whatever you may think, you will never lay a hand on my pup again, Shimura.

_“Hump. I wonder, Itachi.” The words recalled my gaze to the alpha, and I cocked my head. “You do not seem to be treating this with the seriousness it deserves.”_

_“Is that what you are concerned about, my lord? Or, is it only that I am not groveling to you, which concerns you?”_

_He made a move to speak, but I forestalled him. “Let it be, my lord. You have what you want: one you can bend to your will. I will do all you desire, but do not expect me to crawl to you.”_

Not yet…

_We regarded each other and I was amazed at what I felt. Not the fear I expected at the knowledge he would make me regret the words, would make me crawl. Not the hate he deserved of me. Only a serenity. A surety this moment was at an end, and a disgust at the man. I was repelled by-_

† † †

-the weighted possession in that hooded observation. _Hate_ was obliterated under that analysis. Within me, I knew the alpha taking me in was a blight, which must be eradicated.

A low, but growling, snarl rolled up my spine, perpetuated by a wash of red and a wave of pain in my left eye. I was lying on the couch, on Alpha’s lap, but I pushed myself up on one arm, hand braced on the softness of the cushions, other hand pressed over my burning, bleeding eye. Staring at the man through blood, I loosed a hiss at him.

“Itachi!”

Alpha’s arms came around me, hard and tight and shaking in- _Fear?_ Of me? Of what I might do?

“No, Itachi!”

_No._

For any other than Alpha, I would have returned the command with a flash of teeth and bitter pain. For him, I slumped back unto his chest, huffing breath, eye pulsing like the heat radiating up over my hips and along my back.

My mate gasped. He pulled me further back against him, so my head fell into the hollow of his neck, and I was released from the watching eye of the elder alpha. My Alpha’s heart palpitated against my back.

A grunt came from the purple-painted Kankuro. “He doesn’t seem to like you very much, Lord Danzō,” he rumbled.

“Well that’s an understatement,” the female beta said.

“He’s never… never…” Alpha’s voice wavered.

“At your ease, Kisame,” Hiruzen said. “Itachi is calm now.”

It was so. The pain in my eye had faded and I looked up at the high, paneled ceiling quietly. Things were sliding in my mind. Coalescing and solidifying. Melting and rejoining. And I… I felt only the hollowness in my chest, left behind by vanished _Hate_ , filling up with a thing I could not name. A thing which made me whine.

Whimpering, I twisted in Alpha’s arms. Squirming around, until I faced him, my Alpha, my mate. And the thing inside me beat up with the rhythm of my heart. Causing me to release a sound he had never heard from me before. A wail, like a howl.

“Itachi…” Alpha spoke my name as my face crumbled and I shoved it into his chest, where I wept uncontrollably. One thought rising in broken pieces scattered through me.

_My… Dear… Kisame…_

“Is… he alright?” This from the female beta.

“I must concur with Temari,” Gaara said. “Is there a reason for this behavior?”

“He’s fine,” Alpha snapped. “And he’s in heat. You need a better reason? I warned Pain, but no one wants to listen to me.”

My head felt light and the thing expanding in my bubbled. Heavy and empty. A part of me, which shifted in Alpha’s hold, decided it was like pain, but none I had ever felt. Not a pain in my limbs, not one caused by injury where blood flowed, but one from a source less wound where the sensation itself was the blood leaking out.

_Pain._

Pain was what I felt in relation to the elder alpha.

The things sliding in my mind kept up their restless movements, prompting me to rumble low and push away from Alpha with a questioning sound.

He blinked at me. “What is it, Itachi?”

Making little, dissatisfied noises, I shook off his arms and eyed the windows. Alpha followed my gaze and accented.

“Alright, Itachi.”

Silent, I unfolded from Alpha and the couch, and paced to the full-length windows creating one wall. Outside them _Konoha_ unfurled like a leaf. A view of lives and fullness. I looked out, head cocked, features puzzled. Unmoving.

“What is he doing?” Gaara questioned.

Alpha huffed. “Looking! He does that sometimes. It’s best to leave him alone when he does.” A pause. “He seems to like windows where he can look out from a height.”

“Humm…” The scent of clove-laced tobacco smoke followed the sound. It had been quiet a time, and Hiruzen’s voice was soft when it came. “I often wonder why Itachi felt so strongly about volunteering for the procedures. Both Kisame and I tried to dissuade him, but he would not change his mind.”

“Doesn’t matter now,” Alpha said, in that same low tone. “It’s over.”

“Yes, you are right, Kisame. All that remains is whether Lord Gaara of the Sand finds this _Atkatsuki_ team suitable for his needs.”

Gaara made a thoughtful sound. “That is a difficult question, Lord Hiruzen. We asked you for your best team and are willing to pay the price for their services, however, Kisame and Itachi are far from what we anticipated when we came here.”

“Umm, quite so,” Hiruzen replied. “Which is why we have prepared an example for you.”

“An example?”

“Indeed. As it happens, Lord Danzō’s intelligence agents have recently found that one Anko Mitarashi, an accomplish of the Missing- _nin_ Orochimaru, has returned to the village with the intention of meeting an informant tonight at the beginning of our _Tanabata_ festival. Kisame and Itachi will track and kill her. The mission has been deemed safe, and, with your own skills and our team’s known prowess, you will have nothing to fear in accompanying them and will be able to use what you witness in your own decision-making process.”

“Safe?” Temari questioned. “Define safe.”

“Hump.” Kabuto made the sound, looking out from under his faded hood with amused, amber eyes. “Safe enough I’ve elected to accompany you. It’s rare I get to see my work in action, so I take every opportunity I can to enjoy it.”

Kabuto smirked at me; the force of his eyes so intense I felt it on my back. I turned to look at him, but if he expected a response to match the one he’d pried from me earlier, I had none to give him. I gazed at him, sad and listless, a moment, then turned back to the windows and pressed myself to the glass, my palms flat against the panes. The flat stone on the bracelet Sasuke had given me clacked on the smooth material.

Somewhere… Out there…

I felt if I could just press through the glass, I could reclaim something I’d lost, and I rested my forehead on the window with a heavy sigh. My mind a kaleidoscope swirl.

If there was more talk in the room, I did not hear it. I felt nothing, until Alpha put his hands on my shoulders, and I brought my head up and around to see him behind me.

“Time to go, Itachi,” he said. “Time to work.”

_Work._

Time to hunt at last.

Despite myself, I felt some relief at the fact. There was freedom in hunting.

Whimpering, I turned in his hold and brought myself up on my toes to scent his neck. He embraced me with a pained grunt, then moved me to walk. Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, and Kabuto were with us. I paid them no mind any more than I hissed as we descended. I was silent, even when we pitched out onto the street into a sea of humanity, preparing for the start of the _Tanabata_ festival.

Betas, alphas, omegas. Their scents assaulted me, alongside that of gunpowder and sulfur and hot rubber over asphalt roadway and exhaust, but I didn’t care. We were hunting. Alpha directed us, whether with the device in his hand or some _jutsu_ or both, I didn’t know or care for that either. This was always the way. Alpha brought us to the prey, and I dispatched it.

So, I walked. Cloak clinging close on my clammy skin, hair hanging slack down my back. Those shoots of pain and heat crawling up my back. Feeling the leather on my wrist and the weight of the marble from the Mist.

Lost in a daydream.

“Itachi, stop.”

Until Alpha’s voice called me out of it. He was busily fetching a cell phone from a pocket of the pants he wore under his cloak. It was night and hot, and fireworks exploded above us in pink and blue and molten yellow and _sharingan_ red. The color and sound lending the world a faded surreality.

Alpha grunted, almost fumbled the two devices he juggled in his hands and, at last, managed to press the cell phone to his ear.

“Pain,” he greeted the man on the other end of the line. Alpha’s face remained unchanged through whatever was said to him, but his scent shifted minutely, and his eyes slid to Kabuto and away. “I understand. We’ll handle it.”

My mate disconnected and pocketed both devices. I watched him. Something detached gripping me. His scent smelled of _Satisfaction_ and _Bloodlust_. Hot and heavy and lewd.

“And what does Pain have to say?” Kabuto questioned.

“Seems as though there’s been a change in plans,” Alpha rumbled. “Or, more so, a change in target.”

A wicked smile spread Kabuto’s pale, pasty lips. His eyes dropped half-lidded. “And why would that be? Danzō selected Anko in particular.”

“Yeah.” Alpha stepped up behind me, where I stood with my head tilted back, watching the blossoming lights with eyes that dilated and contracted. “But, as it turns out, Hiruzen and Danzō have had a little disagreement on targets, and Lord Hiruzen always has the last word. My mate put his hands on either side of my head and angled it down, so I was facing Kabuto. “You see, Hiruzen found out how you’ve been planning to defect, and sell your _chakra_ procedures to the Village Hidden by Rain, as he banned you from further experimentation after what happened to Itachi. He isn’t about to let you go, Kabuto.”

The snake-eyed man’s smile went brittle but did not fall off. “You don’t know what you’re saying, Kisame.”

“Yeah, I do,” my Alpha returned, and it was clear Gaara and his littermates understood the fact. They edged away from the man to leave Kabuto standing alone in the street. “Itachi. Kill.”

_Kill._

Even if the command hadn’t have been one I still understood, I would have known it in that instant. Alpha released me, and I prowled forward. Silent. Motions fluid.

Kabuto took a step back and another. “Danzō would never allow this.”

Alpha snorted. “Danzō gave you up to save his own neck.” My mate’s _Hate_ scent flowed over me, rich and inviting in the hunt. “What’s the matter? It is rare you get to see your own work in action, isn’t it, Kabuto?”

The man hissed, as I continued to advance. But he didn’t attempt to run. His legs seemed to tangle, and he tripped to his knees. He smiled up at me, as I approached, pace sedate.

“A pity you’re not killing him than, too,” he said, at last. A curl of his lips. “I never would have taken you for the vengeful type, Itachi.”

I stopped above him, face smooth, scent unchanged. Only my eyes showing my intent. Because, in this case, he was nothing but the poor liar. In the moment, it was he who was afraid of what would happen next. As he should have been.

Still. Waiting. Watching. A statue in faded black and red, I stood taking him in with my eyes dilating and contracting. Until Kabuto’s smile cracked just the slightest. Until he admitted himself to be the liar he was.

Then my head cocked to the side, pain starting hot in my left eye, line of blood trickling down my cheek. Following it, as if chasing it, a scream worked its way out of Kabuto’s throat. A scream, which only rose and went on and on, as I stepped forward again, covering the last, small distance between us.

The few steps were enough. Far more than enough. An eternity for the man on the ground. The enhancements to my _sharingan_ had taken the recorded memory of Kabuto’s procedures, worked on me, and transmitted it to the snake sage. Compressed. Condensed into the barest of instants, the omega relived my pain a thousand times over before I closed the space between us, and I tasted the tang of blood on my tongue.

† † †

I was quiet, as we rode the elevator up to the floor our apartment was on. My face was speckled with blood and my cloak was heavy with it, but Alpha made no move to clean it away. He was as silent as I was. Only taking my hand to lead me to our home when the doors slid open.

I let myself be led. There was no pleasure in having killed Kabuto. No satisfaction in having forced my own pain on him. My mind was solidifying further. The whirls resolving, and I knew simple sadness.

My eyes were downcast when Alpha opened our door.

“It’s alright, Itachi,” he said, nudging me forward. “I’ll get you cleaned up in a bit, and I’ll take care of you.”

His words were hardly heard. It was still night and our windows were uncovered and _Konoha_ spread in a field of lights on black velvet below us, and I was, once again, drawn to the glass. My mate muttered to himself and I wandered to the transparent panes, giving on a view of all that was beyond. My hand came up to touch my reflection, a face I hardly recognized, and the piece of Connemara marble clacked beside the wavering image.

“Kis-ame…” The word drifted off my lips, and I heard the crash of glass behind me.

“Itachi?”

I turned, hand still pressed on the glass, tears cleaning trails through the blood on my face. “I’m in heat, aren’t I, Kisame?”

My voice was rusty and rough with disuse. Tight with the need to weep choking me.

“Itachi!” My husband’s arms were around me, squeezing me, pressing me to him with the force of all the time between this and the last time I’d spoken his name. A time I didn’t even know how to calculate. “Oh, Itachi!”

My tears were silent, but Kisame sobbed, releasing his pain in salt drops onto my hair. It hurt. My husband’s agony worse than anything I had known, apart from the fleeting glimpse I’d had of our pup. It was always worse. Whenever my lost essence gathered together, like a morning mist, and looked out of my eyes for a moment or an hour or a day, it hurt so much. Perhaps it was what hurt the most, more than Danzō’s treachery or Kabuto’s knives, the moments of clarity, like a fleeting heat. There and gone. Because they gave hope where there was none. I was lost already, nothing but a ghost on glass.

“I’m so sorry, Kisame.” I felt it important I say the words. Desperate to articulate them in the moment I could.

He pulled back to cup my face. “There’s nothing to be sorry for, Itachi.”

I nuzzled into his hand. Aching with so much I could never tell him. _There is, Kisame. More than you will ever know._

But there were some things I would not waste time on.

“I love you, Kisame.” I felt it important I say those words as well. Said it, so he would remember when my ability to speak vanished with my consciences.

“I love you too, Itachi. I love you so much.”

His eyes were liquid. Hungry. Full of wanting and plain pain. Pain I could only relieve in part.

“Kisame,” I said. “I’m in heat. Why haven’t we mated?”

Kisame shuddered. “I can’t, Itachi. Not with you like that. I can’t do it not knowing if you want me or not. Not knowing if it’s just the heat or you.”

I lifted a hand, caked with dry, flaking blood to his face. Wanting to be sure he _heard_ me. “I always want you, Kisame. Even when I don’t know anything else, I know that.”

“I-tachi…”

Shivering, I pulled myself up to scent his neck. Swaying on my toes, his hands going to my hips, half to hold me, half wanting to do more than hold me.

“Please, Kisame,” I murmured into his throat. “Make love to me.”

My alpha grunted and I gasped because he was lifting me. Taking me off my feet and pushing me back into the glass. My blood saturated cloak was pushed aside, and my pants yanked down and my alpha was in me at last.

I gasped again at the lack of prep and the size of him, so much digger than I was, but I was in heat and slick and had been wanting so long. Back straight, stiff, head thrown back with my dirty, untied hair hanging around it, legs held up around his waist, I laid my arms over his shoulders and met him thrust for thrust.

Desperate in a whole new way.

“Kisame!” I whined, feeling the smooth slide of the triple-paned glass behind me and the sweetness of him down in me. One of his hands let go of one of my legs and knotted in my hair, bringing my head into alignment for a kiss. Something wild and breathless and full of teeth.

_My… Kisame…_

We wouldn’t have much time. We never did. But that didn’t matter. None of it did. Not Danzō or Hiruzen or Kabuto or Gaara or the Sand. All that mattered was the single, fleeting moment we shared. My mate inside me, and, somewhere, our pup. Safe. In the Mist.

**Author's Note:**

> Hear the river behind me  
> Feel the memory storm  
> Feel your essence overflowing  
> A shift of air in the night that brings me peace  
> But will fate let me?
> 
> Tast a style of whim by letting all of you in  
> A bluer moon could never haunt me  
> As I extend my every need
> 
> Feel the mist of the moonlight  
> Watch the glow of the firelight  
> Burning in the moment  
> Burning in the light
> 
> Feel all that surrounds us  
> Casting off all the darkness  
> Walking through the river  
> Searching for you
> 
> Could this end up revealing  
> The story unfolds an incandescent mist that's slowly  
> Radiating a light that sets me free
> 
> Child I can endure the worst that may be in store  
> Stay aware of a false infraction  
> Spend serious time on better things.
> 
> [Worlds Apart (Searching for You) - Blue Stone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06ivpojdfKM)
> 
> I am an original fiction author and fan fiction writer who literally lives for comments, even if they are nothing but inarticulate vowel screams. Please give me comments people! I will literally beg for them!
> 
> This salty ball of words exists on a flotilla of social media. Feel free to friend me on Discord at LeoOtherland#7066,
> 
> Find me on Facebook on my [author page](https://www.facebook.com/LeoOtherland/) for all things original fiction, or in the [AO3 Armada group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/601270063618951) for all things fan fiction,
> 
> Or follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/RoseOfOtherLand) or [Tumbler](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/leootherlands)
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